12 QUESTIONS WITH BOB BALCH

Can you give us a brief history of your playing career?

I joined Fu Manchu when I was 19 years old. Been playing with them for over 11 years now.

What inspired you to start playing guitar?AC/DC and Black Sabbath. When my brother moved out he left a nylon string guitar and a lot of his tapes and records behind. I took over on them and started playing his guitar along with “For Those About to Rock” and “Paranoid.”

What was your first electric guitar?

1987 White Fender Squire.

What are your top 5 favorite records?

Pink Floyd “Animals”

Bad Brains “1982 Yellow Album”

Wes Montgomery “Full House”

The Cars “1st Album”

Devo “Freedom of Choice”

What was the proudest moment and/or performance of your playing career?

Meeting half of DEVO at their headquarters.

How did you hear about Reverend?

email.

What Reverend guitar(s) are you using?

Daredevil HB.

What do you like about your Reverend guitar?

Tone is awesome! They can handle tons of gain, and they stay in tune better than any other guitar I have ever used.

What amps and pedals do you currently use?

Do you have any unusual hobbies, skills, or pastimes you’d like to share with us?

Surfing, Coors Light, bad movies.

Do you have any advice for up and coming players?

Play along with records or play with people.

Please tell us about any of your current projects, tours, cds, etc. we should know about:

I just completed an album with Scott Reeder from FU MANCHU and Scott Reeder from KYUSS called the SUN AND SAIL CLUB. It’s a guitar heavy record and I used Reverends for the entire thing. More on that here.

After playing with METALLICA, FLAG and the DEFTONES among others at the Orion Fest, FU MANCHU is going into the studio this weekend. This will be our first record in 5 years. We obtained the rights to our older records so we have been re-releasing them and touring on them. Now it’s time for some new jams. Feels good! We’ll post tons of studio footage using the Reverends soon! Stay tuned on that here.